Saints 1 Arsenal 1 - Post Match

But was it 3 CHs? Still not sure if it was three at the back with JWP at RB or 4 with Stephens at RB?

 

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Back 4 all game. JWP played deep because we all played deep and he hasn't got the pace to get up and down.

I thought it was a very entertaining game, arsenals passing frightened me to death and told in the end but feel we could have snatched it had Tadic been replaced with Lemina on about 70 mins. Stephens I thought played tremendously for so little game time.

He’s just back from a long lay off and we have 3 games in a week and then a massive month ahead. I’m not saying it was the right decision but I’m baffled you’re baffled by it.

 

 

 

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If it's highly unlikely that Pellegrino was going to risk him then why have him on the bench in the first place?

(Not directing that question at you personally per se, just a general think out loud question)

Stephens actually won a header in the box today. Just the one, but it's a step in the right direction. I think many of us have felt he'd go well on the right of a back three, and he certainly backed that up with his performance.

I noticed that too. Looked like he's been hitting the weights since August too.

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Must be my old age kicking in. Could've sworn JWP played a more advanced position in the first half and Stephens more of a right back. Maybe it was too fluid a set up for me to notice in he first half. Perhaps because we sat back more in the second half it was more obvious we had five at the back second half. Or, as I say, could just be me losing my marbles

Pretty sure we played 4 at the back but reverted to 3 with wingbacks when we were defending certain situations. It's a good way of doing things if the players carry out their instructions and it worked pretty well considering we limited them to only a few shots on target.

Shout out to the grumpy bloke in Block 22 who came with a load of Arsenal fans who all got moved or chucked out at half time. He was adamant he supported Saints but lost all credibility when he accused the rather nice and diplomatic steward of being racist and started swearing in front of his young child.

He stayed put but kept shouting "you're ruining my experience" at the steward which, to me, sounded like the sort of thing you'd say if someone kept throwing up during a hot air balloon trip rather than at a cold, wet St Mary's.

Feeling a lot happier than I was a few weeks ago, we finally have a goal threat and the rest of the team is responding.

If MP could get over his own negativity and set us up with 2 up front we could start to move. Gabi up front please.

Must be my old age kicking in. Could've sworn JWP played a more advanced position in the first half and Stephens more of a right back. Maybe it was too fluid a set up for me to notice in the first half. Perhaps because we sat back more in the second half it was more obvious we had five at the back second half. Or, as I say, could just be me losing my marbles

Don't think it's anything to do with your age. That's exactly how I saw it.

Just watched a replay of the goal. It was a great goal. Austin passes to Tadic and then makes a 20 yard run into the box. Tadic drives into the middle of the defenders and then gives Austin a no look, back angle pass right on his foot. Austin hits it by the goalie with misdirection, using the backside of his foot. Its one of those give-and-go goals that are picture perfect.

Gutted at the time but happy with a point. Defended really well and for not some better decision making on the counter attack we could have grabbed a goal or two more. If we could find a tadic like player with a little more pace we'd we much more dangerous on the counter. But overall we seem to be heading in the right direction and the Leicester match will give us a true marker of where we are.

Gutted at the time but happy with a point. Defended really well and for not some better decision making on the counter attack we could have grabbed a goal or two more. If we could find a tadic like player with a little more pace we'd we much more dangerous on the counter. But overall we seem to be heading in the right direction and the Leicester match will give us a true marker of where we are.

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Gutted at the time but happy with a point. Defended really well and for not some better decision making on the counter attack we could have grabbed a goal or two more. If we could find a tadic like player with a little more pace we'd we much more dangerous on the counter. But overall we seem to be heading in the right direction and the Leicester match will give us a true marker of where we are.

Problem is this is one of only 6 matches left that fall into the should win category. After our gash start we need to start winning games that don't. Overall I think we'll be alright but that owes a lot to the fact there are so many poor teams in the league.

Stephens, Hojberg both brilliant. Redmond how much is he being paid? No idea what he is on but it needs to be far, far less.

 

Ward-Prowse woeful but that's a given.

 

Bizarre tactics to sit back from the 45th minute. Pellegrino really is naive.

No he wasn't - we did not have one woeful player on the pitch. Tadic and Redmond should have been subbed before they were - not because they were poor but because they had worked so hard. Both were forward on the attack and back in defence when Arsenal had the ball - which was often.

PEH was superb...my MOTM. Stephens was superb...very assured. Forster looked good...getting his mojo back.

Redmond was awful - again. Tadic was better 1st half bit faded significantly in the 2nd half. MoPe needs to be more aware of what's happening to his players. Overall a really entertaining game.

Worst of all worlds. No win, frustration but enough to keep MP in a job a while longer.

 

Arsenal were there for the taking, classic winter Arsenal attitude. Yet we sat back for the last hour or more. Can't really say we deserve to win when we're defending like it's injury time from the 46th minute. Too negative. Tried it v man city and got punished in the end. Same here. Good teams will do that. Far more chance of winning if you keep going for them.

 

Oh well. Hojbjerg excellent, Romeu good, Stephens decent. Tadic same old rubbish. I find it hard to get excited as the team will change again next week, there won't be any cohesion or consistency. We won't go down, but it's not going to be fun to watch. Shame as despite what some say, we actually have a really good squad.

Spot on

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Anybody seen a replay of the handball (?) by one of their defenders, as the last man so he would have been sent off if the ref had given it? Looked clear from where I was.

Anybody seen a replay of the handball (?) by one of their defenders, as the last man so he would have been sent off if the ref had given it? Looked clear from where I was.

Was that the Mertesacker one? If so he had no idea where the ball was, no intention at all and was a good decision from the ref.

We're a much better team with Redmond nowhere near it. Bertrand for one would be much happier. He slows everything down and loses us all momentum, while not having the threat Boufal poses. Shame. Amazing how he keeps getting picked

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Was that the Mertesacker one? If so he had no idea where the ball was, no intention at all and was a good decision from the ref.

Yes that who it was. Fair enough. It looked a clear deliberate stop to me at the time , but maybe I was just a tiny bit biased! Thanks .

Hoj looked superb again from what I saw. Seemed to be everywhere, and looked to play it forward when the ball was on rather than always handing it off to someone else behind him.

Anybody seen a replay of the handball (?) by one of their defenders, as the last man so he would have been sent off if the ref had given it? Looked clear from where I was.

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MP reaction to the Arsenal game

gutted to concede right at the end, again

we played well, we competed really well

we got a good point against Arsenal

happy with the effort from all our players

against these teams, you have to be excellent

we were intelligent today in attack and defence

we were focused and we should be happy

the side is now competing well and we look to the next game

happy with charlie and we look forward to the next game

it was a good game from jack (stephens) and means everyone is training well

I think he is ponderous yeah. I don't dislike him. I just think he takes too long on the ball when he gets it, especially when running at players.

 

I'd have brought Long on for Austin towards the end of the game, but maybe for Tadic at the point Boufal came on.

The tactics were right for this match. The team played well. The only failure, not for the first time, was not taking our chances. Thank goodness for Austin. Disappointing to concede late but I'm encouraged by the performance.

Wasn't bad, but could've been better. For starters Gabbi should've come on for the knackered Austin after 60 minutes. And Redmond (if he really insists on picking him) should at least be on the right, with Tadic on the left. I don't know how long it's going to take MP to figure that out (obviously it's going to be even longer than it took for him to realise that he needed to play Austin for more than a few minutes).

Yes that who it was. Fair enough. It looked a clear deliberate stop to me at the time , but maybe I was just a tiny bit biased! Thanks .

I saw it as deliberate too. The shout went up right around the stadium. It prevented us getting clean through on goal too

Motm has to be stephens what a performance. The way he has been treated is disgraceful, one of stars in my opinion. He has to get games now.

I thought they all played well. PEH, Romeo, and JWP did an excellent job in midfield.

On the subject of JWP how can anyone say he was woeful. Put a real shift in today and was always a threat.

Enjoyed that game happy with point but must beat Leicester.

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http://www.gunnerstown.com/arsenal/2017/12/10/floundering-mertesacker-hot-headed-xhaka-and-the-incompetence-of-referees/

Sour grapes Arse fan reckons that Austin's goal was a good two yards offside and that they had a stonewall penalty claim denied when Lacazette had his legs taken from under him "after the ball had gone"

Therefore the score would have been 2-0 to them, he claims. This assumes that even if the penalty had been awarded, it would have been scored. And whilst he is having his little sulk at poor old Arsenal's suffering at the hands of incompetent match officials, he should say whether he thinks Austin was offside when the ball rebounded into his path off one of their players.

No one mentions Yoshida, he seems to be taken for granted. Thought he was a tower of strength today (and all season)

Also no one mentions that after exactly 4 minutes of added time the ref blows, just as we were breaking and were about to have one last chance to win it. Fair enough maybe, except I wonder why the same didn't happen when City scored against us just after the added (5) minutes were up?

Rhetorical question of course.

We're a much better team with Redmond nowhere near it. Bertrand for one would be much happier. He slows everything down and loses us all momentum, while not having the threat Boufal poses. Shame. Amazing how he keeps getting picked

 

 

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That was one selection decision which seemed to count against us today. Breaking up the Bertrand/Boufal combination, which has worked so well in the past 3-4 matches made us less cohesive and dangerous down the left flank, even though Redmond had a few good moments; he doesn't link up and feed Bertrand like Boufal has been doing lately. Wasn't Stevens good in the second half? And PEH all match.

That was one selection decision which seemed to count against us today. Breaking up the Bertrand/Boufal combination, which has worked so well in the past 3-4 matches made us less cohesive and dangerous down the left flank, even though Redmond had a few good moments; he doesn't link up and feed Bertrand like Boufal has been doing lately. Wasn't Stevens good in the second half? And PEH all match.

Redmond is a better defender than Boufal and Pelligrino clearly thought that that would be important-rightly in my opinion. The MOTD analysts highlighted a number of weaknesses in Boufal after last week's game. He is a very good player but not yet the complete player that he is capable of being.

Felt like a defeat at full time.

Austin was incredible, worked his socks off and could have even had a hatrick inside 10 mins. They just couldn't handle him. Second half was an embarrassment from the manager, we defended far too deep, almost inviting Arsenal to score, so it was no surprise when they did. Must be so frustrating to play for this guy wit such negative tactics, the Arsenal defense so poor we got behind them everytime we tried in the first half, 2 massive points dropped. The subs used were nothing short of bizarre. We all could see that Lemina needed to get on. This guy WILL get us relegated, mark my words. We have the players, time for a new manager.

Felt gutted when we conceded the equaliser....again very late

But having had a few hours to reflect the main positive from the game is we are clearly heading in the right direction. With the exception of Redmond I fear.

Good performance and should have won at a canter. Austin gets his goal but misses two sitters, Bertie suffered a nose bleed at altitude otherwise 4-0. The usual anonymous display from the bloke on the right wing and and almost equally invisible chap on the left wing. How they get picked is anybody's guess? Let's try... Les Reed? Co-incidence that the Gao's were here so Les bigging up his failing Academy to save face?

Tadic played well as he does against the Gunners. Stand out performances from all the defence, worthy mention for Stevens, Hojberg and Romeu but Yoshida, van Dyke and Bertrand all excelled. Forster on the up again, great to see.

Strange feeling of a big let down at the end but a point is a point as we struggle towards 20 for the half-way stage.

....but you cannot sit back and try to win 1-0 against players of this calibre.

Felt like a defeat at full time.

 

Second half was an embarrassment from the manager.... Must be so frustrating to play for this guy wit such negative tactics..... The subs used were nothing short of bizarre. We all could see that Lemina needed to get on. This guy WILL get us relegated, mark my words. We have the players, time for a new manager.

Complete Tosh! Were you there? We are not going down anytime soon. Far worse teams than us in this league.

Bobby Madley in ultra rare non dodgy performance shocker!

http://www.gunnerstown.com/arsenal/2017/12/10/floundering-mertesacker-hot-headed-xhaka-and-the-incompetence-of-referees/

 

Sour grapes Arse fan reckons that Austin's goal was a good two yards offside and that they had a stonewall penalty claim denied when Lacazette had his legs taken from under him "after the ball had gone"

 

Therefore the score would have been 2-0 to them, he claims. This assumes that even if the penalty had been awarded, it would have been scored. And whilst he is having his little sulk at poor old Arsenal's suffering at the hands of incompetent match officials, he should say whether he thinks Austin was offside when the ball rebounded into his path off one of their players.

It was the most blatant penalty you’ll see all season, can’t beleive it wasn’t given if I’m honest.

Wasn't a penalty as the ball was already out of play. Worst that could have happened was a Yoshida yellow card.

It was the most blatant penalty you’ll see all season, can’t beleive it wasn’t given if I’m honest.

Yoshida’s challenge didn’t prevent Lacazette getting a shot away, in fact I think the ball was out of play when there was eventually contact. I’m not saying there wasn’t a case, but I think a desperate block in the penalty area which ends up clattering into the forward after the shot, compared to a tackle on the forward that takes them out while the ball is still live, isn’t as blatant as you’ll see all season, in my opinion

Also no one mentions that after exactly 4 minutes of added time the ref blows, just as we were breaking and were about to have one last chance to win it. Fair enough maybe, except I wonder why the same didn't happen when City scored against us just after the added (5) minutes were up?

 

Rhetorical question of course.

Yeah too right. I thought Madley was ok actually, but couldn’t help wonder whether if Arsenal were on the break after 4m05s of additional time, would he have blown up for full time...?

A great game. Obviously gutting to let it slip in he 88th minute, but we were playing a team who were several notches better than we are.

My only whinge is I'm not sure why we didn't throw on Lemina in the last 10-15 minutes. 1-0 up and needing to both defend and get hold of the ball. Made for him, surely?

Enjoyed the game from sunny Shinoukville - unsurprisingly there aren't too many saints fans in Cambodia.

We did defend a lot, but when the opportunity arose we did create problems for Arsenal. Tadic's reverse pass was sensational. If that was Ozel we'd never hear the end of it. We were well worthy of our lead, but Arsenal dominated possession and had us scrambling on occasions. We seemed almost concede from our own corners a lot these days. We need to sort that out. Other than that defensively we look solid. Yoshida was done in the air for the goal,but he had a good game. Stephen also looked composed and help get us out of tight spots. He's a very good footballer. Just needs to win a few more headers and then we might have our own John Stones.

A few gripes, not many mind. Don't understand why Boufal keeps being dropped. He needs to be playing all the time. The more he plays the better he will get. Redmond cutting inside all day long has become predictable and tiresome. His failure to pass ten yards forward to Bertrand also does my head on. He goes backwards and ten passes later we are in the exact same position as we would have been.

The goal was down to Tadic and our failure tosub him. He was knackered. He chose to close the keeper down instead of preventing the easy out ball. From then on we were short. He didn't bust a gut to get goalside. Or was too tired to do so. This enabled them to work the ball forward easily and the rest is history.

Where was Lemina? He was brought on to great effect in the last home game. Why not here?

Why is Forster punching everything?

Romeu's distribution has been below par in recent weeks and he's also hacked a lot away rather than his usual composed and cool stuff. Difficult balance as he has-been caught overplaying on the edge of our box before.

As I said, just a couple of gripes, but overall happy. That said competing with better teams has not been our problem, it's beating inferior teams. Expectation is higher and so will need to be our ruthfulness.

A great game. Obviously gutting to let it slip in he 88th minute, but we were playing a team who were several notches better than we are.

 

My only whinge is I'm not sure why we didn't throw on Lemina in the last 10-15 minutes. 1-0 up and needing to both defend and get hold of the ball. Made for him, surely?

Another 2 points dropped.

MOTD deigned not to show the incident where Austin was clean through on goal when the linesman flagged him offside, despite the ball having been deflected into his path by an Arsenal player.

MOTD deigned not to show the incident where Austin was clean through on goal when the linesman flagged him offside, despite the ball having been deflected into his path by an Arsenal player.

At the point our player played the ball forward Austin was offside. The deflection off the Arsenal player is therefore irrelevant.

At the point our player played the ball forward Austin was offside. The deflection off the Arsenal player is therefore irrelevant.

Being in an offside position is no longer an offence, hasn't been for some years now.

I didn't go yesterday had a bit of man flu and just didn't fancy it in the weather so I was left with Solent. This game seems to have divided opinion more than normal between the good display against a good team to the manager doesn't know what he is doing arse were there for the taking...

Just going on the radio it sound like we played well first half but dropped to deep in the second. Also sounded like we had the better chances in front of goal. Still a point against Arsenal is a decent point in my book need to get 3 from Leicester though.

Yoshida’s challenge didn’t prevent Lacazette getting a shot away, in fact I think the ball was out of play when there was eventually contact. I’m not saying there wasn’t a case, but I think a desperate block in the penalty area which ends up clattering into the forward after the shot, compared to a tackle on the forward that takes them out while the ball is still live, isn’t as blatant as you’ll see all season, in my opinion

Each to their own, but anywhere else on the pitch and that's a foul and probably a yellow card - it was horrendously late. Had that not been given for Saints, I suspect many, including me, would have been outraged.

Lets say a full back clears the ball down the line and an attacker comes in late (after the ball has gone) and clatters him... it's a freekick.

Maybe the fact the ball was potentially out of play when he made contact helped him, it shouldn't have though.

Clear penalty and i'm surprised more hasn't been made of it.

Each to their own, but anywhere else on the pitch and that's a foul and probably a yellow card - it was horrendously late. Had that not been given for Saints, I suspect many, including me, would have been outraged.

 

Lets say a full back clears the ball down the line and an attacker comes in late (after the ball has gone) and clatters him... it's a freekick.

 

Maybe the fact the ball was potentially out of play when he made contact helped him, it shouldn't have though.

 

Clear penalty and i'm surprised more hasn't been made of it.

Truth of the matter is the exact same challenge was made on VVD a few minutes before and it went out for a corner to Arsenal, but nothing was said by the ref to that. When Maya made the challenge he did, the fact that Arsenal have so many players who will squeal for any decision the fact that there was no reaction from the Arsenal players just them walking out of the box to receive the goal kick shows that neither players or officials felt there was anything in it........ That said you could hear a distinct tightening of sphincters in block 18 & 19 of the Chapel as Mr Madleys signal for a goal kick looked distinctly like a point to the spot!!!

with regard to the officials it was noticeable when we had taken back possession with a solid challenge the amount of times we just stopped waiting for the ref to whistle for a foul, fortunately because we stopped Arsenal stopped too quite surreal.

There were times yesterday when Arsenal were in possession and they passed it around superbly. Very slick, neat and a joy to watch. Then Saints had the ball and guess what? We passed the ball around superbly and we were every bit as slick and neat as they were.

But for all the pretty football from Arsenal, the passing and moving, the tiki-taka style, they just went sideways across our penalty area and didn't threaten too much. Whereas Saints made several openings, made the Arsenal defence look all over the place, had the best scoring opportunities and should have won. Happy with the point, a bit miffed it wasn't all three ... but very pleased we now look entertaining. Something we have been missing for the last eight or nine months.